A woman has been found dead in Montana after coming into contact with a grizzly bear on a trail west of Yellowstone national park.
The state’s fish, wildlife and parks department said the woman was found deceased on Saturday on a trail near West Yellowstone, a Montana town nestled in the Custer Gallatin national forest just west of Yellowstone national park.
The woman was found “following an apparent bear encounter” based on what investigators determined were grizzly bear tracks at the scene, the department said in a statement on Sunday.
The investigation into the grizzly attack was ongoing, it said. The department did not confirm her cause of death.
Rangers issued an emergency closure of the area where the woman was found, which is popular with hikers.
The apparent attack comes amid a rise in Montana’s grizzly bear population and an increase in sightings.
The department put out a news release last week warning visitors that staff had confirmed grizzly bear sightings throughout the state, “particularly in areas between the Northern Continental Divide and the Great Yellowstone ecosystems”.
It urged people camping and visiting parks to carry bear spray, store their food while outside and tend to their garbage.
Fatal encounter with grizzly bears are exceptionally rare. However the human population in bear strongholds in south-west Montana has escalated by up to a third over the past decade. This has led to grizzly bears getting into increasing conflicts with humans.
In July 2021, a grizzly bear attacked and killed a person at a western Montana campground, while in April of the same year, a backcountry guide was killed by a grizzly bear while fishing along the Yellowstone national park border.
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